Romney calls jobs data ‘very troubling’

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A disappointing employment report for March has raised questions about whether the U.S. is improving as fast as previously believed. Many economists blame faulty seasonal adjustments used by the government. Democrats and Republicans, for their part, had a different spin on the jobs data. Read about March employment report.

• “This is a weak and very troubling jobs report that shows the employment market remains stagnant. Millions of Americans are paying a high price for President Obama’s economic policies, and more and more people are growing so discouraged that they are dropping out of the labor force altogether.” — Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney

• “There is more work to be done, but today’s employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Despite adverse shocks that have created headwinds for economic growth, including weak construction investment, the economy has added private sector jobs for 25 straight months, for a total of 4.1 million jobs over that period.” — Alan Krueger, White House Council of Economic Advisors

• “Overall, [this is] a reminder that the U.S. recovery is not suddenly going to transform into a spectacular success, particularly not at a time when the rest of the world economy is stumbling.” — Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics

• “One disappointing jobs report is not reason to panic, but it will dampen some of the optimism about the strength of the recovery this year. Our read is that March is understating the underlying improvement in the labor market, while January and February overstated it.” — Nigel Gault, IHS Global Insight

• “Weaker-than-expected March gains should not cause alarm since a number of other measures provide corroborating evidence of a slowly improving labor market. These include declining jobless claims, falling numbers of announced job cuts compiled by Challenger, solid increases in the employment components of the ISM indexes and rising demand for workers from small- and medium-sized businesses.” — Sophia Koropeckyj, Moody’s Analytics

• “Before we all despair and declare the recovery over, it is worth noting that the four-month average for payroll advances is 215,000, while the four-month average for household employment gains is 301,000.” — Stephen Stanley, Pierpont Securities

• “The unemployment rate dropped to 8.2% from 8.3% owing entirely to a decline in labor force participation. Indeed, had the participation rate held steady at the February level, the unemployment rate would have edged up to 8.4%.” — Julia Coronado, BNP Paribas

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